Mike Spinelli

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Stories By Mike Spinelli

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    More Whistles, Fewer Bells: Ferrari Premieres 2008 F1 Racecar

    Anyone doubting Formula One's temperance movement has legs need only cast their F1-geek eyes on the latest Constructors' champ's entry for the aught eight season. Yesterday, Ferrari's F2008 car became the first showing among new cars that must comply with the latest technology prohibition by Formula One's own Robin Hood, Bernie Ecclestone and his "Merry Man" Max Mosley. They've robbed from the rich and given unto the lowest common demoninator, standardizing engine computing and banning most driv

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    Electric Bruce! Porsche Releases Details On Panamera Hybrid

    Such teases, those Porsche types. Just weeks after telling the German press they're not quite sold on the whole hybrid thing, sales wise, the company's released details on the gas-electric version of its coming Panamera four-door. (Wait, did we say Panamera? Yes, we did.) That means the top-view rendering above, while informing us of the new e-gas tech with cutaway and callouts, provides one of the first representations of the actual car we've seen from the Stuttgart studio. As expected, the mod

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    Editor's Letter: Changing-Of-The-Guard Edition

    For the past couple of weeks I've been boarding at my friends' non-working farm. It's a typical southern-Tuscan spread set between the cliffs of Monte Amiata and the Mediterranean Sea. I've just taken Zoe, a Labrador mix, for a run in the vineyards and my faithful sneaks are caked in thick, red clay. As existences go, rural Italian life is an order of magnitude less frenzied than standard. There's no rush to get out of bed before eight, and good luck buying an aspirin or a jar of mayo between on

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    Brabus-Tuned Maybach 57 Hits 205 Mph In Nardo

    There's a record for everything, though not every one gets equal weight among the record watchers. Take, for example, the title of Fastest and Most Exclusive Luxury Sedan. Show up at the Guinness doorstep with that belt, and they'll send you packing along with the guy sporting the world's largest buttocks-region carbuncle. Nonetheless, Mercedes tuning shop Brabus is still proud of its latest Maybach tweaker, a 57 that hit 205.2 mph on Italy's Nardo test track this week. Under the long, Maybachia

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    Users Guide To Jalopnik: New Comments Features Addition

    The editors here at Jalopnik dot com supply the posts, but your comments are what make us a family (and we mean that in the massive scotch-and-tryptophan-fueled argument after Thanksgiving dinner kind of way). That's why we've now made it even easier for you to keep track of your favorite commenters right from the front page.

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    Supercar Hypermiling Day 1: Ford GT

    As if we didn't already know Zac Moseley from the Manhattan Classic Car Club has the best job in the world, he's driving it home this week with what we thought was an interesting class project: Five cars, five days, 250 miles and 7.5 gallons of gas. Is hypermiling more fun in a supercar than a Prius? We'll be running the show-and-tell all this week. — ed. For the next three weeks, my apartment is being gutted and I'm staying in Englewood, New Jersey with the in-laws. That means I'm a commuter. I

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    TechArt Porsche Turbo Cabriolet

    TechArt's again gone futzing with the latest Porsche models. This time it's the new, 997-model Turbo Cab, and as per usual, horsepower is way up. From the base cab's 3.6-liter flat six, TechArt's wrung 630 horsepower — 150 more than stock and up to 604 foot pounds of torque. Two versions of the wind-tunnel-tested body kit, for street or track duties, meet the ground-effects quota, and a TechArt add-on lowering kit, brakes and an range of interior finishings complete the tuner package. It'll all

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    American Le Mans Series 2008 Season Preview

    Let's face it: working for the entirety of the daylight hours and commuting only in darkness sucks. Daylight Savings Time can bite me. But here's a bright spot: it looks like the American Le Mans Series 2008 season is going to rule like the Wyld Stallyns. Click to find out why. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images.)

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    Saab's New "Cross Wheel Drive" In Detail

    This week, Saab announced it would give the world of car watchers something unexpected — rear wheel drive. Well, in a sense. It's Saab's new Cross Wheel Drive system, by Sweden's Haldex, and it offers up to 100-percent rear torque transfer. Of course, the front wheels get the same consideration. It's the first US buyers will see of the latest-generation Haldex AWD platform, which will also find its way into cars from VW/Audi and Ford. Saab's contribution to the system is an active, yaw-damping l

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    First Finishers Hit Cabo In Baja 1000

    Despite our best laid plans conceived in March, we never quite make it to the Baja Peninsula in November for the most testis-outward off-road race on this continent. It's the Baja 1000, a thousand-mile-plus jaunt from Ensenada, Mexico down to the rich-gringo playground of Cabo San Lucas. It's largely an affair of the unlimited-class trucks, buggies and motorcycles into which most corporate dollars pour, though anyone with a Volkswagen and a dream can attempt the combination of searing heat, talc

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    LA Auto Show Preview: Volkswagen Space Up! Blue Plug-In Hybrid

    For the Los Angeles show, Volkswagen's ubiquitous new minicar concept, dubbed Up!, alights the hybrid bandwagon (bandwagen?). It's a version of the more spacious Space Up! from the Tokyo auto show, powered by a novel fuel-cell hybrid drive system with solar support. The system's an outgrowth of VW's research in gas cells that operate at a higher temperature than traditional ones. VW engineers say the cells, which can reach temperatures of 248 degrees Fahrenheit, stand to be lighter, more compa

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    Ford Follows Fashion: Mercury Launches VOGA Series Cars

    As if there was any remaining question Mercury's become Ford's chick brand (Jill Wagner, call the front desk) it's gone the way of the tube dress. That message's been strengthened by the introduction of Mercury's new VOGA-edition vehicles. It's the latest in a long line of Ford's designer-edition models, starting with the Bill Blass, Cartier, Givenchy and Pucci edition Lincolns of the mid-1970s. Like its siblings, the 2008 VOGA edition Mariner is the product of the Italian design house, not repr

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    Step Livery: The Mercury Mariner Livery Package

    If you're one seriously fly mofo looking for a special limo that doesn't gulp unleaded like that blond from Omaha put away bottles of Krug Grand Cuvée, you might consider putting Mercury on your list. At least, that's what the company's beseeching. Ford's promoting a new livery package for the Mercury Mariner Hybrid, dubbed fittingly, the Mercury Mariner Hybrid Livery Package. Exactly what constitutes the livery package, however, Ford failed to mention in the press release (jump). All we know is

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    Blasting From The Past: Vector Avtech WX8

    Somewhere at the Los Angeles auto show, while the world's automakers are splaying their latest show ponies under million-dollar lighting kits, a revival of sorts is quietly taking place. Car freaks of a certain age remember the trials and triumphs of Vector as they might the rise and fall of a forgotten Hollywood starlet. Once America's answer to the Lamborghini Countach, the Vector began life as a design study at the 1971 LA show, and blossomed after some fits and starts into a full-blown, if s

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    Le Mans Classics: Nissan R390 In Zama Collection

    It's accepted knowledge that Nissan guards its Zama collection in Japan closely. Some say it employs a secret ninja squad trained to reach into an errant digital camera, rip out its CCD chip and show it to it before it dies. But a few enterprising Nissan fans did manage to score a tour of the warehouse, which holds acres of cars from Nissan's storied past. Possibly the crown jewel in the collection is the road-going R390 GT. It's a one of a kind homologation attempt based on the company's R390 G

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    Formula One Brake Regeneration System Gets Award

    We all know how vocal FIA boss Max Mosley has been about bringing more real-world fuel efficiency to Formula One. Doing that, the theory holds, will allow F1 to regain the top of production-car technology development. In fact, the FIA has already defined the amount of energy recovery it will allow for the 2009 season, which is 400 kilojoules per lap, translating into an extra 80 hp over a period of 6.67 seconds. Now, several companies' worth of prop heads who've been futzing with brake regenerat

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    Ford Launches Focus Special Edition ST500 In The UK

    Playing the grass-is-greener game whenever Ford Europe puts out a new, high-performance variant of the Euro Focus is getting tedious. Perhaps Brits do the same thing when Ford North America sends out yet another Mustang derivative. Ah, screw it; here goes one more. It's the Ford Focus ST500, a spec'd-up Focus to be built in extremely limited number. Pick up your jaw from the floor; the ST500 has not a thing in common with the Mustang GT500, save a set of racing stripes (this, in 1966 LeMans live

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    Don't Mesa With Kia: New "Borrego" SUV Revealed

    It's been a long time coming, from spy photos to teaser shots. And what happens? Kia goes ahead and changes the name from one that's broadly geological to one referring to the location of an annual grapefruit festival. We mean, of course, California's Borrego Springs, which may have given its name to Kia's new midsize SUV. Sharing underpinnings with parent Hyundai's Hyundai Santa Fe, the Borrego will slot into a lower price range, but keep the three seating rows and thus room for a Chuck E. Chee

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    Shelby's Terlingua Racing Team Returns

    Don't call it a Jackalope, or a mutant lion with a thyroid problem. We're of course talking about the barking rabbit on the crest of Terlingua Racing. To those unaware, Terlingua was a team named after a rogue Texas border town founded by a friend of Carroll Shelby's. In fact, the first Shelby Mustang GT 350 ever raced wore the black-and-yellow crest when it hit the Texas tarmac piloted by Ken Miles. Later, it adorned Parnelli Jones's King Cobra at the 1964 LA Times Grand Prix, four Indy 500 win

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    Noble M15 To Get Twin-Turbo V8

    The vehicular pride of Lee Noble is getting an infusion of artificially aspirated gumption. We're talking about the new Noble M15, which the car's Italian import shop UK Garage says will soon have up to 650 horsepower on tap. That by way of a 4.4-liter Volvo V8 fitted with twin turbines. That, they say, will be good for zero-to-60 times in the three-second range. But word is only 50 cars will be accessorized such, which includes a lightweight but more rigid carbon-fiber and aluminum undercarriag

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    Ferrari Theme Park Breaks Ground In Abu Dhabi

    If you're planning a trip to the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, you'll run right into the Ferrari Theme Park. At least, that's the plan. Ferrari is breaking ground on the park we told you about nearly two years ago. Truly the happiest place on earth for tifosi and related prancing-horse devotees, the park will feature driving-instruction courses for children and adults, a full-on Six Flags style amusement joint, high-tech theatres and a racing circuit that'll host the coming F1 addenda. The park is

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    DARPA Grand Challenge: Wrap-Up

    After criticizing MIT's bot for overtaking Cornell's car when it got confused by a barrier and causing a minor bumper brushing, it's come to my attention no points were deducted from either team. In fact, no teams were penalized for traffic infractions of any sort, and the final scoring came down to finish times. MIT managed to come in first place of the teams that didn't win spots on the podium, and that's pretty impressive for a squad conspicuously absent from previous races. MIT's bot, with i

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    Nissan Reveals Racing GT-R For Japan's Super GT Championship

    Amid all the talk on Nissan's Porsche-baiting GT-R hitting pavements this year, Nissan's racing arm NISMO quietly revealed the racetrack model. It's the GT-R NISMO's readying to compete in the racing series formerly known as JGTC; that is, Japan's "Super GT Championship" series, in the top GT500 class. And by reveal, we mean there's nary a stitch of spec information forthcoming. For that, they say, we'll have to wait until February 2008. The GT-R replaces the Fairlady Z (350Z) in competition, wh

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    DARPA Grand Challenge: Update From The Course

    Out here on the urban challenge course in Victorville, California, it's UPenn, MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Tech and Cornell out of the original 11 left in the DARPA Grand Challenge. Of these, all said teams' autonomous vehicles have completed mission two as of 1:05 pm PT, with Cornell the final team to finish. All the cars are racing on the same course, but each has a unique mission plugged into it, meaning they have to interface with each other as well as a team professional driver

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    Over The Back Fence: BMW Talk From South Carolina

    A bit of advice to automakers' test engineers. Don't go blabbing top-secret info to the neighbors at your kids' soccer games. The Jalopnik readership encompasses many covert types, who are quick with an e-mail to the tips line. Today's back fence comes from a reader in South Carolina, who says he has some insider dish on the coming BMW X6. Following are are the gossipy points, bulleted for your subjection:

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    Maybach 62 Landaulet Design Study

    Take one underperforming super-luxury car brand, create an eye-catching design study with historical significance, and watch the world's ultra-rich flock to its contracting sales network. It's not as easy as that, but Maybach's not giving up without a fight. Thus, the Daimler brand's designers have created this one-off Landaulet concept as an homage to landaulets past. That means the roof over the passenger compartment slides back, revealing the sky to the beluga-addled captain of industry withi

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    Ferrari 599 GTB By Edo Competition

    What color was Enzo's white horse? It was the same color as this here 599 GTB tuned by Germany's Edo Competition. The company's released new information on the prancing tuner, including a top ECU tweak to 750 horsepower. Purists may balk, but Edo knows what he's doing. In a sense. [World Car Fans]

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